Ethereal Metal Webzine

—From Our Archives— *Old Interview*

Interviewed by Jessica Clingempeel
—I got the chance to listen to the album before its release and Lanvall and Sabine were kind enough to be interviewed.—

Having heard several of your past albums I believe that Solitaire is the best thus far, do you agree or do you favor another album over this one?

Lanvall: Thanks. I would agree but I would consider our last album “MyEarthDream” equally strong.

How long did the writing and recording take approximately?

Lanvall: All in all the writing took 1 year and then the whole production another 6 months with breaks in between.

Did the recordings go smoothly or were there many frustrations and/or times where any band member felt like giving up?

Lanvall: It was a very relaxed process. I started in Summer 2008 with songwriting and wrote about half the album. Then we did some touring again in Korea, Benelux and Norway which resulted in the LiveEarthDream live album. After this I wrote the rest of the album and finished songwriting in Spring 2009. Since Summer 09 I wrote all the lyrics for the album and then recordings began. As on the previous albums everything except drums was recorded in my Far-point Station studio and the mix was again done by Karl Groom in England.

What inspires you to write such amazing lyrics?

Lanvall: Thank you very much. I am very happy that also some people recognize the quality of the lyrics and not just the music which should always go hand in hand. It´s nature, it´s life itself and it´s movies. But being out in nature is the best inspiration for the music and the lyrics.

The album cover itself intrigues me, who came up with the idea for it and what was the inspiration?

Lanvall: It was again done by Anthony Clarkson. The cover shows the process of questioning old dogmas and the correlating paradigm shift we are in between.

It´s about the universal power within us, which has been present down the ages and will exist forever. A diamond connection which is undestroyable. This part in us is unique and is finally shown to advantage in the chain. Like each water drop is unique and forming to the sea in connection with other water drops.

Sabine: The symbol of the open triad stands for the circle of birth, life and death.

The Celtic mystic proves that when we are facing this symbol we recognize this circle and our intuition reveals our own infinity, what stands behind and what is undestroyable.

Apart from the fact that the symbol is appealing me very much, it has a deeper meaning. Listening to your inner self, to recognize the inner voice is something very essential in our turbulent times of change. If something should change for the better for us, we have to go about this in unison with our inner self. Music is the best companion for this way. We only have to listen, look and empathize consciously.

The eye on our cover stands for awareness in the mystic context and the diamond symbolized the essential part of every life form stays undestroyable in the circle of birth-life-death.

Lanvall: The work what Anthony has done for MyEarthDream was amazing so it was clear to work with him together again. I think he even topped his work with “Solitaire”. It´s simply his style and the richness in details what we like.

Do you feel more accomplished with Solitaire than before or do you strive for more?

Lanvall: We will always strive for more. There are always new goals to reach. I can honestly say that every album we have done we have given 100 % of what we could do.

The intro and outro in the album reminds me of something from Lord of the Rings, would you ever consider putting your music into any movies?

Lanvall: This would be great to do sometimes as I am able to make a score of a whole orchestra. And of course I love the Lord of the rings soundtracks, for me the best ever done!

When listening to a lot of the songs I can feel a lot of emotion and see that a message is trying to be said. What message do you wish to give to your fans and to the world?

Sabine: It is routed in our band name that we are a link between the different elements. The bridge stands for a connection between the cultures, a fact that we are using instruments from different cultures and ethnic sounds in our music.

I see it as our way to integrate extremes what we want to express musically. It´s the way of the heart, which is connecting everything and also lets everything stand for its own.

I have been seeing a lot of promotion for the song Higher and love the song myself. Does this particular song hold any meaning and is it a favorite?

Sabine: “Higher” is about reaching aims and getting higher and higher. We break our back and fight and don´t recognize when we fight it´s a fight against our-self. If we recognize this we don´t need to fight anymore to get higher in life. To reach this aim is much more valuable than the little goals what we are aiming for normally.

The main idea for the concept came in my mind when I meditated over Lanvall’s lyrics and everything grew during the process of developing the story. Timor, the actor who performed the fighter in the video contacted me during this process, after we didn’t see us for nearly four years. He wanted to know how I am and I considered his e-mail as a gift from heaven. He was totally happy when I told him of the video idea. Timor and his friend Martin did a really great job. We had a lot of fun on the days of shooting.

Who were the choir and orchestra that is heard on the album?

Lanvall: We didn’t work with a real orchestra this time. As there are less orchestral parts on the new album it wouldn´t make sense financially to work with a real one on this album. In the mean time I have some of the best available orchestral samples at home. As on the last album I did all the orchestrations on this album again. Working with a real orchestra costs a fortune of money and the sad thing is that most people do not recognize if it´s a real one or not.

How did the process go of finding new members for the band and how is it working with them?

Lanvall: Max Pointner (drums) and Dominik Sebastian (guitar) came into the band in 2007 during the recording process of MyEarthDream and already played the whole MyEarthDream tour. We found both in our city Linz where they´ve been playing in their other bands “In Slumber” and “Thirdmoon”, both death metal outfits. We have a lot of fun with them and it´s great to have them in the band. We are still searching for a new bass player, I hope we will find one soon.

After recording and listening to the finished album for the first time do you think you made any mistakes or wish you did anything different?

Lanvall: There is no single point I would change for now. I am totally happy with the new album.

What are the tour plans? Any worldwide dates set yet?

Lanvall: Unfortunately it is very quiet at the moment. 3 shows in Indonesia are in plans for November, 1 of them could be a big one with a real orchestra and maybe we will do a DVD recording then. And some shows in Vietnam in December are also in plans.

Edenbridge has evolved since the past albums and in my opinion have gotten better. Do you see yourself as a band evolving even more?

Lanvall: Edenbridge is always evolving, from album to album and I hope we can continue this way. As a musician and composer you develop as you you do as a human being, so it is a constant process.

This one is for Sabine: A lot of female-fronted bands are always being compared to others be it fashion, music or vocals, but your voice really stands out and is unique. What makes you stand out more than the rest of the female vocalists in bands in your opinion?

Sabine: Thank you for your compliments, that makes me happy.

I think if you’re going your own way, be critical to yourself, but don’t give much to destructive feedbacks or watching what others do all the time, you develop yourself uniquely. Our consistence for so many years brought us a lot of acceptance in the scene. Concerning my voice, I also found my way of growing with body- and breathing work as well as meditation and consciousness trainings.

Sabine, have you ever considered doing any theatre performances?

Sabine: There would be a great atmosphere for our music in theatres, but we don’t have plans for that at the moment. Years ago in Moscow we performed in a venue which has been a theatre in the past and I remind myself that. Lanvall and I had goosebumps at the same time when we played the song “My last step beyond”. It was such a great feeling because of the atmosphere at that moment.

What is in the future for Edenbridge?

Lanvall: Following our own way as we did the past years without looking on any trends and continue making music that comes out of the heart and the belly.

I know bands of other passions and dreams. Do either of you have any?

Sabine: Beside Edenbridge I like to lead workshops for vocal trainings and one for developing our inner voice called intuition. I’ve got an education as a counselor and I studied body- and mindwork like yoga and other energy work. It’s my gentle way of developing voice, mind and soul. I called it Aurora-Trainings. The name comes from a spiritual experience which I had some years ago. For me it means the connection of contrasts – a heart quality.

On the other hand I like being creative with painting and photographing. I love cooking and like to get inspired for new creations from countries I visited. In summer I like hiking and swimming and in winter skiing – being in the nature.

Lanvall: I love motorsports, especially Formula 1, where I am addicted to for more than 30 years now. I am collecting a lot of F1 stuff, model cars, books, videos and I was able to visit the Barcelona race last year with a Paddock pass for 3 days which was a dream coming true.

I love skiing, cross-country skiing, mountain hiking, being in the nature and loading up the batteries.

What are some other projects, if any, that are being done for each member?

Lanvall: I started to record vocals and choirs with Georg for the upcoming Serenity album.

Sabine: I have just recorded a song for an Italian guy called Riccardo and his Ravenblack Project. A very nice tune called „Lullaby for a wolf“

Sabine, being a huge fan of Tarja myself and knowing that you have done a few projects alongside Tarja. How was it working with her? Are you, yourself, a fan of Tarja?

Sabine: We both, Candice Night and Fabio Leone sang on the first “Infinity” album, but it wasn’t necessary to meet each other for this project. The modern technology made it possible that everybody did their parts in different studios. That’s more comfortable of course, because we all live in different parts of the word. All the vocal lines were already worked out by Beto Vazquez, only for the song “Wizard”, Lanvall wrote the lyrics and vocal lines for me.

I met Tarja personally for the first time when we supported Nightwish in Vienna in the year 2001. I like Tarja’s performance, especially her live performance because she has a very big presence on stage. I also like her way of singing, although I normally don’t like opera singers.

What bands do you wish to get the chance to perform with? What has been some of your favorite performances?

Lanvall: The best 2 band to perform would definitely be Nightwish and Within Temptation cause they are the biggest ones with female vocalists.

Sabine: I would like to support the Scorpions one time in the future as long as they are still active of course.

Any last words for your fans?

Lanvall: Thanks to our fans for your great support. Check out Solitaire !

Sabine: Thank you and many kisses to our fans and to all who hopefully will become fans in the near future!

Thank you for the interview and your great questions. We hope to hear from you again.

Our best regards
Sabine + Lanvall